William Neil McCasland, 68, who commanded Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio before his 2013 retirement, was last seen Feb. 27

Retired Maj. General William N. McCasland.Credit : U.S. Air Force

New Mexico authorities are calling on the public for help in searching for a 68-year-old retired U.S. Air Force major general who went missing last week.

A silver alert has been issued for William Neil McCasland, according to a missing persons bulletin issued by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities said that McCasland was last seen on Feb. 27 at about 11 a.m. local time in the area of Quail Run Court NE. They added that McCasland’s clothing at the time of his disappearance and his direction of travel are currently unknown.

“Due to his medical issues law enforcement is concerned for his safety,” the sheriff’s office stated.

According to his biography on the Air Force website, McCasland was commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where he managed the Air Force’s “$2.2 billion science and technology program as well as additional customer funded research and development of $2.2 billion.”

He served in that role from 2011 until his retirement from the Air Force in October 2013.

According to the article “The Air Force Investigation into UFOs,” published on The Ohio State University’s website, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was the headquarters of Project Blue Book, the military branch’s probe into unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

The article stated that during the project, which began in 1952 and concluded in 1969, nearly 13,000 UFO sightings were investigated, with 701 of them remaining “unidentified.”

“Created by the United States government because of security concerns and fueled by American obsession with the extra-terrestrial, Project Blue Book was a pure product of Cold War paranoia,” the article reads.

In a Tuesday, March 3, article about McCasland’s disappearance, Newsweek reported that the retired general’s name was mentioned in the 2016 WikiLeaks release of emails from John Podesta, former White House chief of staff to then-President Bill Clinton. In messages between him and Tom DeLonge, the Blink-182 guitarist and UFO enthusiast, DeLonge said that McCasland was an adviser on a number of UFO-related projects.

“When Roswell crashed, they shipped it to the laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. General McCasland was in charge of that exact laboratory up to a couple years ago,” DeLonge wrote to Podesta in 2016, per Rolling Stone. “He not only knows what I’m trying to achieve, he helped assemble my advisory team. He’s a very important man.”

According to Newsweek, there are no official records indicating that McCasland advised DeLonge on the latter’s UFO work, and the outlet noted that the retired general had neither confirmed nor denied his involvement.

A photo shared by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office of William Neil McCasland.Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook

McCasland also commanded the Phillips Research Site of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Based in New Mexico, and was vice commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center and the Space and Missile Systems Center, according to his biography.

Col. Justin Secrest, base commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland, said in a statement shared with the Albuquerque Journal that they are working with local authorities following McCasland’s disappearance.

“Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time,” Secrest said.

McCasland was commissioned in 1979 after he graduated from the Air Force Academy with a bachelor of science degree in astronautical engineering, the military branch also said.

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He also served at the Pentagon, first as a director of Space Acquisition in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force — and then as director of Special Programs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

Among his awards and recognitions are a Distinguished Service Medal and a Defense Superior Service Medal, according to his bio.

“General McCasland has played a pivotal role in developing several unique capabilities that this country is not only using now, but will rely on in the future to face emerging threats,” Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, the then-commander of Air Force Materiel Command, said in 2013 around the time of McCasland’s impending retirement.

Wolfenbarger added, “His contributions leave a lasting positive impact on the Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command and our Air Force and will continue to provide this nation with a technological edge for decades to come.”

Those with information on McCasland’s whereabouts can text the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office to 847411 or contact its missing persons unit at 1-505-468-7070.